WordPress Security FAQ
Why care about WordPress security?
Whether you’ve purchased a template online, built your website from scratch, or used the services of a WordPress web designer, your website security is constantly under threat!
If you’ve purchased a template and installed it yourself, it is likely that it is full of security holes and will need to be looked at ASAP!!
If you’ve created your own site from the basic WP install files then it will need updating and securing – as your files will be easy to access and manipulate.
If you’ve paid for the services of a WordPress Web Designer then just as they do not normally focus their skills on search engine optimisation, they also do not usually perform any kind of security set up.
It is devastating to have a site hacked which can result in your entire site to be down, data lost, and business affected – and it takes a lot of work to restore everything back to normal!
What is WordPress security, really?
WordPress security refers to very specific steps, processes, and techniques administered to ensure that your web server files and data can’t be accessed or changed by anyone who is not authorised.
When your files and data aren’t protected by proper security measures, your website is left vulnerable for malicious hackers to wreak havoc and destroy your website, hard work, reputation, and possibly your entire business. It IS that serious!
How can I tell if my site has been hacked?
It’s more than likely, that you won’t know – until it’s too late!
You may be “lucky” as you’re site will be down and you’ll have a dummy bank site or suchlike in it’s place! (Time to panic!)
You may have a threatening email from Google or a real bank telling you that you have a phishing site trying to steal their Customers data! (Time to panic!)
If you’re not so “lucky” you may notice that traffic to your site has significantly dropped, or see strange characters and links in your content. (Time to panic!)
You may even notice that your site pages suddenly drop out of search results and when you check Google Analytics you instantly see why! (Time to panic!)
If you are worried at all that there is “something weird” going on on your site, chances are your site has been hacked.
Can I do my own WordPress security?
The standard WordPress installation needs to be regularly updated to keep ahead of the latest security holes. This, in itself, is quite easy to do. However, that is just a very basic standard update. There are many, many very technical steps to properly secure your WordPress site which is beyond most people’s knowledge.
If you aren’t knowledgeable in the workings of WordPress, PHP coding, and databases, you’re better off leaving it to a professional WordPress Security company.
A large majority of the hacked sites we’ve fixed after an intrusion have had some type of do-it-yourself security – which proved very inadequate and resulted in lost data, business, and money.
What about WP security plugins – is that not enough to protect my site?
No, no no! They would possibly give you a basic protection – but no more.
Even what we would regard as a really good security plugin (and there are some out there), just can’t secure everything that our software and a real human can do (and we do have some great real humans here too!)
There really is no plugin that can deliver the multiple layers of security which are needed to secure your WordPress website.
What does “multiple layers of security” mean?
The work that we do on your site is proprietary. We can’t speak to your web guys, we can’t deal with your hosting company. We get in and we do it – with your permission!
We lock down your site on many different layers within your site files. Each layer of security is enough to prevent an attack on it’s own, but combining all the layers together ensures that your overall security increases exponentially.
Your site will be locked down, stopping intrusions and creating an extremely strong WordPress security system.
If you wish us to run a WordPress Professional Security Audit on your WordPress site, it is £197.00. You will receive a detailed Report and then you can decide if you wish us to do further work on your WordPress website.
If you wish us to complete our 5 Point Security Plan we will get to work to lock down your site. The fee for this is £397.00.
Further to that initial lock down, we also provide a further 12 Month WordPress Security Plan where we will continuously monitor your site, ensuring WP and Plugins are up-to-date, creating backups, and stopping attacks as they happen. This service is billed annually at £497.00. That’s just over £41 a month for the peace of mind of knowing that your online business is safe and secure.
Need more information or don’t see the answer to your questions?
Go on! Give us a call on 020 8242 4548 and we’ll talk about lot’s of boring security stuff which really, really matters! Or use our Contact page and let us know what you need.
